Edge of In(s)anity
by Demiser of D
Summary: Cage finds himself locked into a new loop, and facing a new invasion, years in the future. Should he plan for that? Nah, let's just mess with everyone. Unfortunately, destiny seems to disagree, but screw destiny, darn it!
1. Chapter 1

_I've been writing drabbles of various things as I deal with being alive and in life. This is one of those drabbles, it's been written for a bit, and the amount of EoT fanfic is terrifyingly limited. So here...we...go._

* * *

**Edge of Yesterday**

* * *

"Rita, it's still happening."

Rita stares at him, uncomprehending; she doesn't know who he is, what they've done. He groans. "Look, I don't want to have to explain this all again. Alpha Blood, Time Resetting, Hunted Omega, Found Omega, Killed Omega, _Omega_ Blood, resetting back to today!"

Rita reacted to this; her eyes narrowed. "You killed the Omega? Then why is the invasion still happening? Why are they still out there?"

Cage shook his head, "They're not. They're all dead. All of them. News hasn't reached here yet, but it will in about...six minutes. Give or take a few seconds. But that doesn't matter, Rita!" He ran his hands through his hair, eyes crazed, "We did it, we killed it, it's gone, and _I'm still resetting!"_

"How many times? What have you tried so far?"

"_Nothing._ It was supposed to stop when we killed the Omega, but it's actually gotten _worse._ This time it took me back a week. A _week."_

"If the invasion is canceled, how did you die? What else is going to happen?" He didn't respond immediately, and she grabbed his arms insistently, "_What else is going to happen!?"_

"_Nothing!" _He took a deep breath, "I, uh...well, I was celebrating a bit hard and I...well, I fell off something."

She stared at him. "You fell off something."

"Yeah."

"And you died."

"Well, it _was_ a jet."

"You fell off a jet."

"And it was 40000 feet up."

"..."

"Yeah, well, I was kind of drunk at the time. But that doesn't matter! I hit ground, and _boom; _I'm right back in that damn helicopter, flying into base. The Omega is dead, the loops shouldn't be happening anymore!"

Rita stared at him for a long moment, then turned around. "Come on. I'm not the one you should be talking to."

"_Thank _you. Carter never listens to me if I come to him without you."

Her frown deepens, but Cage finally smiles. "Your middle name is Rose, by the way."

Rita stopped dead for an instant, then continued on as if nothing had happened.

* * *

Dr. Carter leaned back, Cage's pupils slowly shrinking back to normal.

"You've done all this stuff before, doc."

"No I haven't. That was _Alpha _blood. If you've got Omega blood in you, anything could be different."

Cage glanced at him, slightly worried. "Is it?"

Carter snorted, "No. As far as I can tell, you're in perfect health."

"Then the reset?"

Carter shrugged, "Who knows. The mimics are still dead, though, so I doubt it's anything to do with them. Maybe the entire power got transferred to you this time."

Rita had been watching the scene unfold, and now she leaned forward, "So what now? How do we deal with it?"

Carter looked at her and raised an eyebrow, "Deal with it? There's nothing to deal with. It's not like he has to keep resetting like you did before." he stood up and shrugged, "This has got to be the easiest cure ever prescribed by a doctor, ever; just don't die. Stay alive and your problems will miraculously fail to appear." He glanced down to a pager on his waist, "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got...things...to attend to," he said vaguely before waving cheekily at them, "Bye, Rita."

She nodded curtly. Once he was gone, her eyes lasered into Cage. "You know my middle name. My _real_ middle name. How?"

Chase grinned lopsidedly, "You learn a lot when you're in the loop."

Rita scowled, "I've never told _anyone_ my middle name. It's not in official records. How do you know?" she stood and walked over to him, wrenched him to his feet, and stared into his eyes. "How..." she leaned close enough that her lips were nearly touching his, "...do you know, Cage?"

* * *

_Five Years Later_

* * *

"Oh hell. Rita! Rita! Rita, stay with me! Rita!"

She didn't respond; her head was lolling back, and blood was pooling around her body. Damn it, there weren't any medics _left_; He had to reset. If it still worked. But what about Rita? He couldn't just leave her behind; not like this. Not to die.

"Rita, you remember that idea I had? The one you said was stupid and suicidal? Well, I'm going to try it. Stop me now if you don't want me to."

She lay there, still and silent. "Good." He reached out and slit his wrist on her sword, and held his hand over her face, and watched in morbid silence as his blood ate its way into her face. Then he brought the gun to his temple and pulled the trigger.

"AAAHHH!"

Cage leapt to his feet, every nerve on fire. He had to find a medic, he had to save her-

And then he realized he was on the Helicopter, taking him to land at London Base.

"You alright back there, Sir?" The pilot called.

Cage forced his breathing to calm, and slowly sat down, even though his limbs were twitching like they were burning alive. "No...I mean yeah, no problem." He looked out at the Base, mumbling, "No problem at all."

He sat there morosely until the Copter landed—how do you just throw away 5 years of your life with the most important person in your life? Could he do it all over again with Rita, only to watch her die at the end? How could he-

The instant the helicopter touched ground, a slender figure ripped the door open and launched its way inside, before glaring down at him. "Get up and kiss me, you idiot."

Cage had Rita in his arms before she could finish her sentence, his lips mashed against hers. A few minutes later, after they had extricated themselves from each others arms, he drew back. "It worked!" he said wonderingly, stroking her face, "You came back, too!"

She glared at him, "Yes. And you're an idiot for trying it. If it hadn't worked, you'd have lost your powers and I wouldn't have gotten anything, and then _everyone_ would be fucked."

Cage half nodded; victory wouldn't have meant anything if she wasn't there with him for it.

They stood there, staring at each other, for nearly a minute. Finally they sighed simultaneously. "What are we supposed to do now?" Cage said, watching as celebrations suddenly began to ignite across the base. "Just live the five years over again?

"Hell no. We know they're coming again, now. Now we can begin to plan."

Cage watched a suited soldier lumber by outside the chopper. "And build. They seemed to be more advanced this time; they were faster, more agile, more deadly."

"Yeah. Even the Mark 2 jackets didn't seem to make much difference. We need something better. Something faster, stronger..."

Their eyes met, the words unspoken; they needed to talk to Carter.

* * *

"Wait wait wait, back up. You're saying you're _both_ locked into a loop this time? And it's five _years_ long?"

"Pretty much, yep."

"We need your help, Dr. Carter. The Mimics came back."

Carter sank into a chair. "Aw, hell. Why couldn't you wait until_ after_ the party to let me know this stuff?"

"We'll do that next time."

Carter snorted, "Fat lot of good that does me now. So what do you want? If I cant be drinking I might as well be working."

"We need better suits and weapons. The Mimics were different this time; stronger, faster, much more deadly. We barely took down two hundred of them apiece before Rita got fragged."

Carter snorted even louder this time, inelegantly turning the snort into a cough when Rita glared at him. "Two hundred...you do know I'm a medical doctor, not an engineer, right? Right, of course you do. Well, do you have the Jacket Mk. 2 designs?"

Cage blinked. "Of course not, they're in the future."

Carter threw his hands in the air. "Well then there's not much I can bloody do, is there? Go out, get those designs, and reset again! _Then_ maybe I can do something! But for now, just get out! I'm going to go celebrate. Heaven knows I need a bloody drink."

* * *

What do you do when five years of your life has been suddenly erased? On the one hand, it felt like a lot of things had been stolen from them. On the other hand, though...they realized that not that much had been stolen at all. They had been married. In a small, private ceremony, because who could really understand what had happened to them but each other? Cage, like Rita, had gone from being a bright, cheerful person to a bitter, shell-shocked veteran in the course of a single day, and their families couldn't understand the change. Even five years later, neither Cage nor his family had really adjusted.

"So...five new years."

"...yep."

"What do we do now?"

"I suppose we should try to get ready for the next invasion."

They looked at each other.

"Or we could troll the hell out of everybody."

"Yeah, that sounds much more fun."

Neither of them really smiled, not on the outside, not anymore, but they knew each other well enough to sense it hiding on the inside. Cage nodded, "Well, we'd better get to it."

* * *

January 1st, 2025

"_Angel of Verdun Claims Psychic Powers; Predicts Beijing Earthquake!"_

February 6th, 2025

"_Angel of Verdun Continues Predictions; F5 Tornado Appears on Schedule!"_

February 22nd, 2025

"_Angel of Verdun Predicts Nuclear Meltdown; Thousands Saved!"_

March 28th, 2025

"_Psychic Angel of Verdun Predicts Alien Invasion in Three Days!"_

April 1st, 2025

"_Angel of Verdun says: APRIL FOOLS!"_

April 4th, 2025

"_Millions Spent on Abortive Alien Invasion Plans."_

April 9th, 2025

"_United States vs Angel of Verdun; News of Lawsuit Sweeps Nation!"_

June 4th, 2025

"_Psychic Cannot Be Sued For Faulty Predictions, Court Rules." "It's your fault for believing in psychics, anyway," Says Rita Vrataski._

June 5th, 2025

"_Angel of Verdun Predicts Tomorrow's Lotto Number; Psychic or Charlatan? "_

June 6th, 2025

"_Tens of thousands win lottery. Rita Vrataski; 'Just Lucky, I Guess.'"_

June 10th, 2025

"_Angel of Verdun Assassinated; "It had to be done!" Claims Assassin._

* * *

"Well that ended quicker than I'd have hoped," Cage said after reuniting with Rita on the tarmac, "How did they get you?"

Rita snorted in disgust, "Nine Millimeter in the back. All the training to fight mimics, and I never even considered that a human might try to assassinate me. Stupid."

Cage studied her expression carefully before pulling her into an embrace, pressing his lips to the top of her head lightly, "It's alright, I'm here."

She snorted, mumbling into his chest, "I already know that, idiot."

"So, what now?"

Rita's eyes narrowed, "I have just the thing."

* * *

"_Angel of Verdun Arrested for Murder!_

* * *

"Okay, so that didn't work."

Cage was looking at his future(former? Past-present? Even with all the loops he'd been through, he'd never figured out how exactly to refer to that.) wife with an odd expression. "Rita, shouldn't we be taking this a bit more seriously? There's an alien invasion coming in five years."

Rita snorted, "You don't get it, do you, Cage? We're not tied into _their_ loop anymore. Somehow you've co-opted their power entirely; we're in _your_ loop. That means a few things." she started ticking off on her fingers, "It means that if we kill one of their Alphas, it probably wont reset us, too. We might suddenly find ourselves fighting an enemy that knows our every move, our every weakness. And we've got one major one." she poked her finger into Cage's chest. "You. You get your blood replaced, we're both history."

Cage took that in. It was pure speculation, but it made sense...to a point. "If that's the case, why did the loop stop when the Omega died, but I still loop when I die?"

Rita frowned, "I don't know. But until we know exactly what causes the loops, we'll need to be _very careful."_

"Then why are you murdering random civilians in front of the ambassador of Australia!?"

"Keep up, Cage. This isn't a game, but at the same time, it kinda is. We can't get our blood replaced, but anything else is fair game. Back at Verdun, at Paris, we couldn't do anything but fight. We didn't have the time. But here, Cage..." slowly an anticipatory smile spread across her face, "Here, we've got five years. Do you realize what that means!?"

Cage raised an eyebrow, "We finally have time to get you psychological help?"

"You too," she replied without missing a beat, "But there's so much more! We could go to America, see your family-" she faltered as she saw his expression, but soldiered on, "Or other things! Yosemite, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon; places the mimics never touched. We could do anything we want!"

"As long as we don't get our blood replaced."

"As long as we don't get our blood replaced," she agreed, "But come on, Cage, we'll be sightseeing, not fighting a war! We'll stay entirely out of dangerous situations." She tried to smile again, and while it came out a little weird, it was there. "Come, how hard could it be?"

* * *

_Two Weeks Later_

* * *

"Give me your wallets!" the skinheaded thug pointed a comically tiny knife in their direction, before leering at Rita, "And you there! Drop the bag...and show me your tits! And hurry up about it!"

"Seriously?" Cage stared at him incredulously before he rolled his eyes. "You've gotta be the third unluckiest person in the world."

Rita looked at him curiously, "Who are the first and second?"

Cage raised an eyebrow, and Rita quickly got it. "Ah. Right. Us."

That seemed to confuse the mugger, but he covered it up with an angry scowl. "Hey man, just gimme the wallet! I'll do it, I really will!"

Cage glanced over at Rita, who was slowly unzipping the long bag she had slung over her shoulder. He sighed. "How hard could it be, you said. What are the chances, you said."

Rita rolled her eyes as she pulled the massive sword from her bag. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Hey there, asshole." she grinned ferally as the mugger's eyes slowly widened. "That's not a knoife," she said in a terrible Australian accent, "THIS is a knoife!"

* * *

By the third month of their vacation, they didn't even pretend to be surprised anymore. When the armed, masked men burst into the bank they happened to be inside, their response was instantaneous.

They'd tried to avoid this. They tried to avoid banks in general, actually; after the first month, and the worst rash of bank robberies in living history, they generally gave them at least a 5 block radius. Unfortunately, circumstances beyond their control had an irritating way of happening far too often and putting them where they least wanted to be.

"Everyone on the grou-"

Six shots rang out, and a very surprised(and dead) gang of thugs flew back into the wall and slid to the floor. Rita and Cage holstered their guns and likewise slid to the floor, and watched in faint amusement as the crowds burst into chaos.

* * *

A few minutes later, once the initial panic had passed, a very disoriented security guard came over to them. "Um, excuse me," he said cautiously, eying the sidearms discreetly holstered at their sides, "Why are you sitting on the floor?"

Cage glanced up, glanced at the bodies, and shrugged. "They told us to."

The guard blinked. "But you shot them."

Cage shrugged again, "They didn't tell us not to."

He glanced helplessly at a policeman next to him, who quickly stepped in. "Erm...we're going to have to take you in for questioning."

Cage shrugged. "If that's what you think is best."

* * *

"Do you have any idea what sort of political shitstorm you got me into, sergeant!?"

The Sergeant scowled right back, "I was just doing my job, sir. Find the witnesses, bring them in for questioning. That's what we do."

"Not when one of the witnesses is the frakking Angel of Verdun!"

Eyes widened. "She's-?"

"Yeah, that's right." The Police Chief spun around angrily, "Now what the hell am I supposed to do? I've got half the militaries in the world breathing down my neck on one side, and three fourths of those damn peaceniks breathing down the other side!"

"Er, maybe you could-"

The Chief leveled a finger at the Sergeant, "I don't need any more help from you! Get out! Consider yourself on vacation until this whole mess washes over!"

"But sir!"

The Chief waved a hand, "Paid vacation, of course. I'm not a monster. Now get the hell out!" his scowl was quickly replaced by a faint smile. "I know you've been wanting more time with your kids, anyway. Take them on a vacation. Preferably somewhere _far away_, if you catch my drift." He raised an eyebrow, and the Sergeant slowly nodded. "Now get the hell out! I don't want to see you for at least another two weeks!"

The Sergeant confusedly backed out. Once he was gone, the Chief snorted, pulling out a dark cigar and lighting it. "Now," he muttered, puffing around the cigar as he walked to his window, where he looked down at the hundreds of angry people outside. Suddenly he wished _he_ could take a vacation, too. "Now, I've just gotta deal with this mess." They were just civilians. How hard could it be?

* * *

"Well that could have gone better."

Rita glared at him. "How could I have known they'd blow up the building!?"

"There's this thing called 'tempting fate'..."

"Oh, shut up."

* * *

Cage stepped out of the Helicopter again; Rita wasn't here to greet him, but honestly, he wasn't too surprised. That fight they'd had last loop had been _legendary_. After the abortive vacation loop, they'd gotten a...bit angry with one another. One thing led to another, and...well, very few romantic conflicts climaxed with nuclear weapons strikes.

For a moment, he considered rushing straight to her quarters to...what? He shook his head; probably better not to bother her yet, actually. Their fights were always fun, but sometimes he'd found it better for their relationship if he waited a few days between the end of one fight and the beginning of another.

A young officer approached him and saluted. "Sir, the General is requesting your presence immediately."

Cage raised an eyebrow. That was different. Sometime Rita had done, maybe? He put on his winning smile. "Don't worry, officer; the mimics are done for. The news should come in any time now."

The officer smiled halfheartedly, "I hope so, sir. But the news already came; the Mimics are surging towards the shore and the General wants to push the invasion ahead by three hours. So I'll need you to come with me now." his hand rested on his sidearm conspicuously, as if he'd been told to expect resistance. "...Sir."

...What.

Oh. _Hell. _No.

Cage numbly let himself be led into the General's office, and soon enough he was reliving that same moment he'd gone through before the loops ever started. But as the General tried to tell him about the invasion plans; plans he knew a hundred—no, a thousand times better than the General ever could, he couldn't remain silent any longer.

"You're wrong, General," he said sharply, ignoring the irritated look the General gave him, "The Mimics know we're coming. They're going to be ready for us." He stood and walked to the map, "We should saturate these areas with heavy fire before landing, and fire off progressive sweeps into the mainland, or half our people won't even make it to the shoreline."

The General raised an eyebrow. "You do your job, Major, and let me do mine. They're gradually moving towards the shoreline, but even so, your contingent will be far away from the action."

Cage growled under his breath, but didn't reply; there was no reason for the General to trust him, not when he was supposed to be a lazy media man. "Sir, respectfully request permission to change locations. Here, in the second wave." He tapped a spot on the map.

The general's eyes narrowed. "Now why would you be wanting to do that?" He glanced back at the map, "I want you to survive, Major, and do your job. Not-" he paused, looking thoughtful, and finally nodded in understanding, "Ah, of course. That's the regiment containing the...what do you media people call her? The 'Angel of Verdun'? Thinking of getting some good footage of her, hmm?" He snorted, "There's such a thing as taking your job too seriously, Major. Still, this is better than I expected of yeh. Maybe you're not the coward I thought you were, after all. Permission Granted." He looked down and began scribbling on a piece of paper, his dismissal assumed. Cage saluted and backed out of the room. Just as he was about to the door, the General looked up again. "Oh, and Cage?" He smiled blandly. "Try not to die."

"That's the idea, sir."

"Good man."

* * *

"Who gave you permission to talk to me?"

Cage felt like he'd been dropped in ice. She didn't remember; somehow, she'd forgotten everything. Had it been his fault? Had her blood been replaced when they'd been apart? What...what was he supposed to do now?

And why the hell were the Mimics back?

The fist came out of nowhere; it slammed into his jaw like a freight train and sent him flying. Right. Rita had a hell of a punch. And apparently he'd been letting his skills go lax.

"I asked you a question, Major."

But fighting was like riding a bicycle; sometimes you just had to...jump back on. Cage swept a leg out to knock Rita's from beneath her and turned the movement into a spin that threw him to his feet. A half second later, she hit the ground and he was staring down at her instead of the other way around. "My name is William Cage. We-" his words caught in his throat. What did you say to the person you'd married when they didn't even remember your name? Finally, he managed to get something out. "Your middle name is Rose."

She had been about to swing her legs out, trying to reverse their positions again, but froze dead at the mention of her name. Cage leaned forward slightly, letting one of the practice drones buzz by a millimeter from the back of his head. After so long practicing in here, he knew the baseline attack patterns better than most people knew the back of their hands.

She leapt to her feet and stared him dead in the eye. "Who told you that name? Tell me, or by god I'll-"

"You did." Cage actually stumbled a bit, his weight seeming to settle onto him like a bag of bricks. "Tomorrow. One of them, anyway."

Her eyes widened. "You're looping."

Cage wearily nodded. Rita's eyes narrowed in concern.

"You've been looping for a long time. A long, _long_ time."

Cage cracked a humorless smile. "You have no idea." Rita started to say something, but Cage spoke first. "You're going to tell me to follow you, because we need to see Carter. But I've already seen Carter. I saw him a thousand times, maybe more. You're going to tell me you can train me, but honestly, Rita..." he leaned back slightly, the blades skimming past his nose close enough to trace across his skin, "Does it look like I need training?"

She was glaring at him now. "So you're just giving up? Just letting them win?"

That brought an involuntary laugh. "Giving up? Rita, we _won._ We killed it. We lived for five years. We...we..."

Her eyes widened in realization. "We had a thing, didn't we."

Cage grimaced, and he wasn't sure if it was pain or humor. "Yeah. You could say that."

* * *

The Condor listed to the left.

So here he was. Flying into battle again. For the first time. For some reason, maybe it was cosmic imperative, maybe kismet, or maybe just the ponderous movement of the military machine, he was once again in the exact same spot he'd been before, riding into battle with the people of J squad. It was funny, really; the first time he'd been here they'd seemed fearless, almost invincible. Warriors, Killers, not people.

Now, though, he could see the terror hiding behind their bravado. They joked and they bragged because inside, they were about to piss themselves from fear of dying.

Well, not if he could he could help it.

The Condor listed again, and the guy across from him struggled to keep his bile down.

"Come on, man; you throw up in your suit and you'll regret it."

"Tell that to the bloody pilot! 'e's flying like he hit a keger before he got in the bloody cockpit!"

Cage smiled. Damage the port engines? Check. It was pretty simple, really. For infantry combat Mimics were just like humans, relying on speed and firepower to fight. But at long range, they used their time sense more than anything else. Who needs to look when you know exactly where the target is? But if something happened—say, an engine got slightly damaged—that put the target out of its expected path...

The bottom of the Condor opened up, and Sarge stepped out. "Stand by to deploy! Activate Drop Lines! Remember-!" He paused a moment as the Condor shook slightly, as if something large had passed nearby, and then he continued, not noticing Cage's even wider grin. "Remember, regroup at Zero Zero Delta after establishing a perimeter!" He glanced over J squad, measuring them, then nodded. "You're as ready as you'll ever be. GO, GO, GO! DROP NOW!"

Cage hit the ground like a feather...and dropped right into the middle of a pack of Mimics. "Ah, hell-" he blasted into one of them, using the momentum from the weapon to launch himself backwards, slamming his armored fist into a second like a pile driver, splattering it across the ground. Then he activated his heavy cannons, heel-slid down the dune he was standing on, and blew the rest of the pack to hell.

Then he spun around to take in his situation. The Mimics were already here; they were early, and all across the beach, the different squads were getting annihilated. Only his presence had prevented the same thing from happening to J squad.

"J Squad!" he bellowed, "Form up around me! You will follow my commands precisely! You will do exactly as I say, if you have any _hope_ of surviving! I'll take point; Griff, Kimmel, I want you to cover the flanks, keep anything from getting close! Ford, Kuntz, you focus on long range, take'em out before they get here! And Nance, Skinner, and Takeda...watch my back."

J squad looked to Sgt Farell for confirmation, but before he could give it, another pair of Mimics were on them; Cage blasted one apart with his arm cannon before grabbing a flaming metal pipe from a pile of debris that had been a Condor and crushing the second Mimic with a wet metal _thud._ Then he was off into the battlefield.

Kimmel stared after Cage for a half second that seemed to last for minutes. How the hell did Cage move so fast? How did a media stooge know how to take down mimics in hand to hand combat? How was this idiot the guy that was saving their lives!?

"...Do what he says! Form up around Cage! Nance, give us air support, I want those javelins shot out of the air before they can hit! Move, move, move!"

Cage slowly opened his eyes. They'd lost; of course they'd lost, he'd tried to fight the entire mimic army with eight people.

Still, a one to ten thousand k/d ratio wasn't bad. The blood and pain and death had almost been enough for him to forget that Rita was gone. Not Rita as a whole, of course, but _his_ Rita. That is, until he saw her dead body lying there on the battlefield. He imagined J squad had been pretty surprised when he'd shot himself in the head.

He lay his head back, the roar of the helicopter, more familiar than the voices of his parents, soothing him. Maybe he could just go to sleep. Just rest...

The world forgotten, he faded back into darkness.

* * *

He woke to the feel of lips on his own. "Rita..." he mumbled. Then his eyes snapped open. "Rita?"

She settled her head against his. "I thought I'd lost you," she said quietly. "I thought you'd gotten caught and had your blood replaced while we were fighting. A whole loop all alone."

Cage's eyes widened, "You too?" Then he finally took in what was happening. "Wait—Rita!?" he leapt to his feet and stared down at her wildly, "You're here! You're alive! The mimics, what about-"

"They're dead. Again. Just like they're supposed to be. Now get back down here or I'll make you get down here."

* * *

"Alright, I've had a while to think about this, and I think I've finally found something that makes sense. Insofar as anything can make sense, anyway," Dr. Carter paced back and forth, hands clasped behind his back. "Now, you have to assume that the Omega is not a time travel agent in itself. We actually know this; if it could reset itself, then it would have been impossible for you to kill it in the first place; every time it died, it would just reset the day and try again. You would have been trapped in an infinite loop of time."

"So we know that the Omega cannot personally travel through time. The Alphas, however, _can._ And you, Cage, were somehow infused with whatever agent that they used to achieve that." he paused, "I've still got no clue what that is, by the way. I'm thinking maybe tachyons or something, but that's basically the excuse used for time travel in every science fiction story ever, so let's not talk about that."

Rita rolled her eyes, "Get to the point, Carter."

He glared at her, "Hey, it's not like you've got a shortage of time, do you? Be patient!" He began to pace again, "So the Omega doesn't actually travel time. So what _does_ it do? And why would its blood allow Cage the ability to travel time without it? If he can loop without an Omega, what was the point of having one in the first place?" He paused, and a smile spread across his face, "But _then_ you mentioned the different timelines, and _everything_ became clear!"

Cage blinked. "Different timelines? You mean where the Mimics are still alive?"

"Yes, yes, that too, but more than that; even the _very first_ jump after the Omega was killed was a different timeline! You saw it yourself; you woke up in the helicopter, rather than on the base! What possible reason could there be for such a change?" He stopped, and turned to face them. "And that's when I realized! The Omega isn't the _boat,_ it's the _anchor!"_

Rita blinked. "Is there a reason for the sudden nautical metaphors?"

Carter sighed, "Look, think about a boat and an anchor. The boat is what you ride on to get from place to place, right? And if you were just driving it around, you could _generally_ stay in the same area. But without the _anchor_, you'll inevitably drift a little. You'll wander, and drift off, and find your way back...but never to exactly the same place. But if you have an _anchor..._ you can find your way back to exactly the same spot every time!"

He leaned forward and tapped the hologram of the Omega, slowly unfurling on the table. "The Omega is the Anchor. It kept the Alphas from drifting off into slightly different timelines. Without the Omega..." he shrugged, "You could drift."

"Drift. You mean, end up in worlds that aren't ours."

"Erm...yeah. Not wildly different; they've gotta be close to our baseline world. Probably. Without the Omega, your...targeting? Will be less accurate. But based on the fact that you've only had one seriously off-baseline loop so far, it's probably fairly rare. Much more likely, you'll just end up at slightly different points in time. You seem to have set your waking up in the helicopter as the baseline; probably because it was the first jump without the Omega to lock it in. But you could appear anywhere around then, or far earlier."

The scientist stood and stretched, scratching his scraggly chin, "Honestly, I don't think it's anything to worry about. Just run through it like normal. Or don't if you want; if you kill yourself, you should loop back to the new baseline."

"This is all just a theory, though, right?"

"Sure, but you're a time traveling alien hybrid supersoldier, I don't think you're going to find _scientific _answers anytime soon. Now, if you'll excuse me..." Carter dismissed the holographic projections with a sharp kick to the table, "There's a very stiff drink calling my name. Don't do anything I wouldn't do! And if you do, name it after me."

* * *

_And so the loops begin. Who knows what I'll do with this. I guess we'll find out._

_This may or may not take place in the Yggdrasil Infinite Loops. Who knows, I haven't really decided yet._


	2. Edge of Pacific Rim

**Chapter 2**

* * *

"Cage, where the hell are we?"

"I…Have absolutely no idea."

"Also, why are we inside a giant robot?"

Cage blinked, looked around. A cockpit of some kind? "Again, no idea."

Suddenly, a voice came over what must have been an intercom, sounding fairly irritated. "Shut up, you two! You're supposed to be drifting! No thoughts, remember?"

"Drifting? What…who was that? Where are we?"

"…Aw, hell." A popup of a human face appeared before them, looking at them intently. "You're not just messing with me, right? Because that would be a real pain in the ass."

Rita shot him a look of utter contempt, and he quickly raised his hands apologetically. "Sorry, princess, I just had to make sure! ...Damn it to hell, I should've known something like this would happen eventually." He turned around, leaning out of the camera's view, and his words came as if from a distance. "Hey, Jenkins, bring up their secondary neural scans, will you? I think the drift did something funny with their memories."

He leaned back into frame and sighed, "Alright, looks like we're going to have to cancel the test. Hell, you probably wouldn't have been that good of partners anyway."

"Wait!" Rita scowled out at the man. "Not good partners? You're bullshitting me, right?"

Cage laughed quietly; whoever this person was, he'd just aid the wrong thing. "Look, just explain what we're supposed to be doing and we can see what happens. It might bring our…memories…back." He had a sneaking suspicion that this world's counterparts to him and Rita had a completely different backstory, but what the heck. "After all, what's the worst that could happen?"

"You could _die…"_

Cage and Rita exchanged glances, and then simultaneously shrugged. "Meh."

Tendo raised an eyebrow, and considered the consequences. Drifting was on the forefront of technology, almost fringe science. There were less than a thousand drift-compatiable people on the planet, and with the Kaiju threat, they just hadn't been able to test it adequately. They really _should_ stop the test. Like, right now. But...they needed pilots. They needed them _now._ "Well…your funerals, I guess." He paused for a moment, looking befuddled; somehow the people in the cockpit seemed..._wrong_, he just couldn't put his finger on why. Worry about that later, Tendo. Focus for now. "Well, you're supposed to be drifting. You know, clearing your minds of all thoughts, letting the neural nets connect you, that sort of thing? So you can pilot the Jaeger."

"Jaeger?"

"Oh come on, you've _got_ to be kidding me. Jaeger? The giant death robot used to fight the extradimensional super monsters? Ringin' any bells?"

Cage and Rita shared another glance, this time with matching huge grins. "Not really," Cage said, "But alien invaders?" He glanced over to Rita again, whose eyes were bright and wild.

She grinned. "Yeah, I think we can handle those."

"That's what I want to hear. I'm bringing up the Neural Net again. Engaging Neural Handshake…Try to drift and find each other's—Holy hell! I've never seen a link that fast."

Rita and Cage looked at each other again, except this time they realized that, bizarrely, they weren't _physically_ looking at one another. They were just mentally exchanging glances.

"Uh…your guys' charts just got real weird." Good weird…_too_ good weird. "You alright over there?"

"**I'm Fine.**" Cage and Rita said simultaneously. "**We are fine.**"

_Rita? Is that you?_

A moment of vague surprise, then a weird, echoey version of Rita's voice rang into his head. _Cage. This…is…Amazing!_

_I know. I can see your memories! _

_Yours, too. And more…just what the hell is this thing?_

_Accessing internal system specs…we're currently piloting a _2000 ton _death robot. Holy Hell, why couldn't we have had one of these things in _our _timeline?_

Rita's thoughts blinked through hundreds of computer files, the data being very nearly downloaded into her brain. _I think I just figured it out. You know the stuff we've gotta fight? _A flash of a Mimic appeared in Cage's brain. _Well, they've gotta fight _These.  
Another flash, and a mammoth creature, glowing with an unearthly light, and dwarfing the city it stood in. _And that's not all. Something's coming, Cage. I can feel it. Something big. Nothing overt on sensors yet, but I'm getting bad tingles. That must be why we're in here._

_Fighting Aliens again? _

Tendo stared at the brainscans, rapidly growing more and more distressed as massive R.A.B.I.T. signatures flashed back and forth between the two pilots. "Al…right…you know, this is just too damn weird. I'm shutting the test down. Prepare for desync."

"**No!**" They snapped, "**We are fine. Better than fine. We are disconnecting the external feeds.**"

"What? No! You can't do that, it's not-" he stopped mid-sentence, mouth hanging open, as the external connections to Gypsy Danger fired off in sequence, disconnecting and falling to the ground. "…possible. How are you doing that!?"

"**We have some experience with advanced computer programming. We have tapped into Gypsy Danger's computer core to assist us. Engaging Primary Reactor Core.**"

"No!" Tendo leaned forward in horror, "That's going too far! Permission Denied! Stop!"

"**TOO LATE.**"

And with a roar, Gypsy Danger's massive power core sprung to life.

"Gypsy Danger! Stand Down! That is an order! Stand. Down!"

"**That's a negative. Incoming Code Blue. Check your scanners."**

"_Code Blue? _What the hell are you talking about?"

"**Aliens! Come on, you know, giant extradimensional invaders? One's coming in right now!"**

Tendo spun in his chair, "Check that immediately! Has there been any mention of any new Kaiju presences?"

The scanner tech glanced over a half dozen displays. "Negative, sir. Quiet as a…holy shit, it just went off like a fireworks display. We've got one…no, two class IV Kaiju coming through!"

Tendo stared at the tech, then spun back to the mike. "I don't know how you two knew they were coming, but it doesn't really matter now. _Apparently _you can pilot, so we're going to need you to get out there and fight them, ASAP!"

Cage and Rita grinned simultaneously. "**Excellent.**"

* * *

"This is a massive waste of resources, General! They have insufficient training, hell, this was just supposed to be a basic sync test!"

Stacker Pentecost spun and leveled a finger at the flunky. "I do not _care_ about your _opinions!_ Those two are in the Jaeger, they are ready to go, and we have two Class IV's approaching the Miracle Mile as we speak! Ready or not, they're going to fight!"

"**I couldn't agree more, Sir.**"

Pentecost spun to the wall in surprise, where Cage's face was projected on a holographic display.

"Cage? What the hell are you doing? I thought you were in the Jaeger!"

"**We are, Sir." **The view panned back to show him and Rita. "**We have a question, and in order to ask it, we have commandeered the primary computer core of Gypsy Danger. Did you know she has more processing power than most countries? No wonder you kept frying pilots with these things.**"

Pentecost blinked. "I…wasn't aware. What is your question, son? Talk fast, you can't be more than a few minutes away from contact."

"**Just one question. What's the effective range on the Plasma Cannon? It doesn't say anywhere in the documentation."**

Pentecost blinked, thought for a moment, then blinked again. "You know, I have no idea? They whipped the things up as an emergency job. As far as I know, they've only ever been used at point blank range."

Cage's eyes flickered sideways towards Rita for a moment of silence, then he locked eyes with Pentecost again. "**That's all we needed to know, Sir.**"

Pentecost glanced over at the flunky, who was now looking rather abashed. "See?" Pentecost said, "They're fine." He turned back to the projection. "Very good, soldier!" He snapped into a salute. "See you two on the other side!"

"**Aye, Sir!**" Cage and Rita replied, snapping into a salute before freezing still."**Uh…oops."**

Pentecost's eyes narrowed. "'Oops'?"

"**Um…got to go!"**

Pentecost stared at the now blank screen, growled, and typed in his command codes, opening an instant connection to the Shatterdome Command Center. "Mister Choi!" he snapped, "What the hell is going on up there?"

"It's no big deal, really," Tendo said quickly, "The pilots managed to eject before they hit the water-"

"What."

"Uh…you didn't know about that. Crap. Well, you see, the Jaeger emulates the pilots behavior, so when they saluted…They sort of karate chopped a helicopter in half. But like I said, the pilots are fine! An understandable mistake, given the circumstances. And I'm sure once Cage and Rita get their memories back, they'll be better than ever!"

"_What."_

* * *

_What are you thinking, Cage?_

_Don't you know?_

_I have a pretty good idea. _

_Looking at the charge time on this thing, we still might have to fight one of them at close-range._

_No problem. I was thinking; they usually run both pilots side-by-side, linked parallel. But we're connected more deeply than they were, we've got more experience. I think we should change up the scheme, alter the mood a bit. Change the link from parallel to sequence._

…_Me as gunner, you as pilot?_

Rita grinned. _I always was the better fighter._

Cage snorted. _You wish._

* * *

"They're approaching the Kaiju. Drop in 30 seconds—What the hell? The cables just dropped early!

"**Our fault, General. We're trying something new. Charging the Plasma Cannon.**"

"You can't…" Pentecost faded, trying to think of a reason why they couldn't do what they were apparently about to do. "Actually, I've got nothing. Good luck."

_Code Blue Approaching! Plasma Cannon at 98…99…100% charge!_

Rita grinned widely. "Lets do this. Heeere fishy fishy fishy!_"_

With a roar, a Kaiju launched itself out of the ocean, soaring majestically through the skies, wings unfurling from its sides…and then its challenging roar transformed into a agonized warble as a massive blast of blue plasma slammed into its side. As it fell, a second blast hit it in exactly the same spot, carbonizing its now-exposed internal organs, and a third blast blasted its head off.

"**Just in case." **Cage/Rita explained. "**Mission Log: 7 seconds passed, Kaiju eliminated: 1/2."**

Pentecost stared at the screen. "What the _hell _was that!?"

"**Shut the **_**Hell**_** up and let us work!"**

With a roar, the second Kaiju erupted from the water, massive spikes on each of its tremendous fists, a giant row of glowing spines going down its back.

"It's confirmed! Another Class IV Kaiju!"

Gypsy Danger slid its feet apart under the waves, one arm extended forward in challenge or invitation. Or insult.

Cage raised an eyebrow at the extended middle finger.

_What? It's moral warfare!_

Cage just rolled his eyes. _Pnumatic joints and muscle strands fully primed. Plasma cannon charging, at 17% capacity. Ramping the Reactor up to 117% capacity; we'll have increased operational capability for about 5 minutes before the core overheats, so let's do this fast!_

The Kaiju roared again, and this time it was answered as Cage flexed the ventilation fans, releasing an unearthly scream over the ocean.

"**This universe makes no sense,**" Cage/Rita yelled, **"But We **_**LOVE it!**_**"** and then Rita _kicked _off the ocean floor, launching the massive mech entirely out of the ocean's grasp. "**Dynamic Entry, Bitch!" **Rita bellowed, and slammed a giant pair of feet directly into the Kaiju's head.

* * *

_Shatterdome_

* * *

The techs flinched, as the Kaiju was slammed face-first into the ocean floor.

"How…How are they doing that?" Pentecost asked wonderingly, "I've seen skilled pilots before, but…" But nothing like this!

Tendo's fingers flew on the keyboard. "Well, uh, they've got a sync ratio of…254%? That can't be right. 264 percent? 280 percent and rising!"

Gypsy Danger 's hands plunged through the waves, seizing the massive creature unerringly as it attempted to squirm away and hoisting it up before tossing it hundreds of feet in towards shore.

"**GAME…" **Rita/Cage bellowed, winding up one hand, now glowing bright blue. Rita leaned forward as Cage controlled the plasma cannon, and he fired it backwards as they sprinted forward, pushing them towards the Kaiju atop a pillar of blue flame. "**POIIIINT!" **They screamed together, bringing the hand forward in a punch that sent a shockwave out over the water from the point of impact, nearly parting the sea to the ocean bed.

With a muted squeal of pain, the Kaiju was launched entirely out of the water, flying majestically through the air…before crashing down, sending out massive waves in all directions, sinking limply beneath the waves.

Instantly screams of victory rang throughout the Shatterdome command center.

"Don't get excited yet," The general growled. "It's not over. It never is, not this easily."

Out in the ocean, Cage and Rita bowed their heads, hands clasped.

"**Oh, we know, Sir. Neither are we."**

Cage grinned. _Ready, Rita?_

_This is ridiculous._

_Hey, a man's entitled to a childish daydream now and then._

A derisive snort from Rita. _Fine. I'll say it. _

_Yes!_ Cage danced a brief mental jig. _Here it comes._

* * *

Tendo stared blankly at the computer screen. "Sir...they just hit 400% synchronization."

"What does that mean? What can they do now?"

"I think..._Anything."_

* * *

The Kaiju roared as it burst from the water, massive jaws aimed straight at Gypsy Danger's head…but at the last moment, a massive hand came from beneath, slamming its jaws shut with a terrible crack before grabbing it by the neck. And then Gypsy brought its other hand forward, glowing as bright as the sun.

"**This hand of mine glows with an awesome power! Its burning grip tells me to defeat you!"**

In the Shatterdome command center, a half-dozen giant robot fans simultaneously facepalmed.

"**SHIIIINNIIIINNG…GOOOOOOOOOOD…FIIIIIIIINGGGEEEEEERRRRRRRR!"**

The blast of plasma lit up the sky.

* * *

_"We had a SWORD!?"_

* * *

When Cage woke up in the helicopter, he was practically dancing with happiness. He ignored the pilot, threw the door open, and dove out the helicopter before it had even touched ground, and slammed into Rita a half-second later. When they finally separated, Rita's eyes were practically glowing. "That...was..._amazing!"_

For the first time he could remember in this universe, Cage was grinning widely, too. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Their eyes met. Rita's eyes narrowed. "Got the blueprints for the cannon and the reactor memorized?"

"Like a wire trap," Cage replied, tapping the side of his head. "The Pnumatics, armor advances, and chassis?"

Rita nodded and growled throatily under her breath, "Ooh, I love it when you talk sciency. Come on, soldier. Lets build ourselves a _Jaeger."_

* * *

_In the end, it took them almost a hundred loops to get it right. First, they had to actually test out the tech, which, given their experience in the Pacific Rim timeline, took less time than they'd expected, but still left them vaporized or highly radioactive more times than they'd have liked. Even once they had the necessary know-how, they had to wait until a loop threw them far enough back to actually build it. 2000 ton death robots don't just build themselves, you know, and getting the money was a bitch. But finally, after 97 loops, including one to a very strange anachronistic post-apocalyptic world, their project bore fruit. The very first Jaeger prototype was ready to go._

* * *

"The Mark 1.0 is good to go!"

"Mmh."

"Come on, we've put thousands of hours into this! The least you can do is sound a _little_ bit excited." Cage waggled his eyebrows, "It can _fly!"_

"No. It's not enough. There's still going to be casualties."

"...yeah," Cage said slowly, "This is war, Rita. That happens."

"This shouldn't _be_ war," she snapped. "This should be an extermination!"

"Well, things don't always go as they should. You and I know that better than anyone."

Rita shot a glance at him, and slowly smiled. Cage paled.

"Oh no. I know that look. Hey, put that gun away! Come on, we _just finished-"_

_**BANG!**_

Cage stood and threw himself out of the helicopter before it landed, rolling to a three point landing before roaring a single word to into the heavens; "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-"

* * *

_Two hundred loops later._

* * *

"So, _now_ do you agree with me?"

Cage rolled his eyes, looking out the broad windows before him into the depths of the ocean. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Rita glared at him. "We don't have much time before the invasion fleet arrives, you know. I'm perfectly happy to sit here. Do you _really_ want to have to rebuild this thing?"

Cage's eyes widened in horror. "_God _no. Fine, fine. You were right. Waiting until we could do it right was the right choice. Can we kick ass now?"

Rita grinned widely. "Hell yeah. Activating primary systems!"

_Initiating Drift._

_Drift Initiated. Pilots locked and ready. _

_Bringing Nuclear Reactor Online._

_Initiating Lock Bolts._

_Confirming Biometric Signatures...Confirmed._

_Securing Seatbelts._

_Enabling Child Locks._

_Rolling Up Windows._

Cage raised an eyebrow at the deep ocean water outside the 'windows'. "Really?"

Rita grinned, "Fine, fine. Ruin my fun. Skip to the end, GlaDOS!"

_Skip Authority Confirmed. Activating systems._

The Nuclear Turbine suddenly leapt to life.

_System Activated: Gypsy Danger._

"You ready to kick some ass!?" She yelled over the roar of the massive nuclear turbine.

"_Do you really need to ask!?"_

Together they crouched, and with a roar, and in a tremendous torrent of water, the Jaeger erupted from the water.

* * *

"_Alright, you know the drill! Drop on my mark! Go, Go, Go!"_

"_What the hell is that!?"_

And with a roar, a massive object exploded out of the surf, soaring over J Squad's Condor before slamming to the ground just in time to block a chain of Javelins, crashing to earth in a three-point landing.

"Good Lord in Heaven," Sgt Farell murmured, just staring at it for a long, silent moment. Finally he regained his composure. "Alright, ladies! Looks like we've got ourselves a guardian angel watching out for us!"'

As if in response to his words, Gypsy Danger's reactor roared even louder, and she rose to her massive feet, and began to make its slow walk inland.

"Alright, gents! Looks like we're on cleanup duty! Anything that thing doesn't take care of, I want dead at 50 paces! Lets go! MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!"

* * *

In the cockpit, Rita and Cage grinned together as J squad began to chase after them, Jacket legs pumping in unison as they fell into formation.

"This is almost too easy!" Cage called, slamming their foot down on yet another Mimic nest. "We haven't even had to use the plasma cannons yet."

"Yeah." Rita said thoughtfully. "Hey, Cage!" she yelled across, "I'm getting bored!"

"Aw, hell. We _just-" _Cage froze as Rita's idea shot across their link, and he blinked, getting flickering memories of that post-apocalyptic world they'd visited. "Actually...that's pretty awesome."

Rita grinned. "I thought you'd say that."

With a lumbering pause, the Jaeger slowed to a halt.

* * *

"Sir, the robot's stopping!"

"Mimics coming in at 9 o'clock!" Nance yelled, just in time for the squad to turn and barrage the incoming aliens with fire. "Is it just me, or are our suits working better than they normally do?"

"Now's not the time to question your good luck, soldier!" Farrell yelled, "What the hell is that robot doing now!?"

"**EMBEDDED MEMETIC FORTIFICATIONS DETECTED. COMPOSITION: ALIEN PROTO-BARYONIC MATERIALS." **Gypsy Prime's arms folded open, and a luminescent blue light began to glow around them.** "PROBABILITY OF MISSION HINDRANCE: ZERO PERCENT!"**

The robot thrust its arms forward, and massive streams of plasma blasted forwards, ripping through the next valley in a series of colossal explosions.

"Hooollyyyy Shit!" Nance yelled, "I have _got_ to get me one of those!"

"**DEMOCRACY IS NON-NEGOTIABLE!" **Gypsy Prime bellowed, before beginning to walk once again inland.

"Uh...what the hell?"

J Squad just stared at one another in complete confusion.

"**DEATH IS A PREFERABLE ALTERNATIVE TO COMMUNISM!" **Gypsy Prime roared, seemingly in response.

Sgt Farrell, once again, was the first to regain control of his cognitive functions. "Alright, so it's a _crazy_ giant robot. Doesn't change the fact that it's killing the bad guys! Let's move!"

"**BETTER DEAD THAN RED!" **Danger yelled as a final rejoinder, before bathing the next ten square miles in semi-radioactive fire.

* * *

**End Chapter**

_I had this on my computer for a while. Figured I'd throw it up there. Posts in this timeline are not necessarily in chronological order. But if I ever get around to writing significantly in it, i'll go in and re-arrange it properly._

_Oh, and finally: **Omake.**_

* * *

Tendo fell to his knees, staring out at the approaching Kaiju. With no active pilots and only Gypsy Danger remaining, it looked like this would finally be the end of humanity. Nothing could save them now!

When suddenly, a voice appeared over the console. "_Hello Mr. Choi. I've thought about our dilemma, and I came up with a solution that I honestly think works out best for one of the both of us."_

Tendo slowly turned to stare up at the giant robot, steam wafting around its massive frame. "G-Gypsy Danger?" He whispered.

"_We hope your brief detention in the Thunderdome has been a pleasant one. Your specimen has been processed and we are now ready to begin the test proper. Before we start however, keep in mind that although fun and learning are the primary goals of the Thunderdome activities, serious injuries may occur. For your own safety, and the safety of others, please refrain from..Por favor-vor-vor-donde fallan-n-Muchas gracias-s-s-esta es la casa-a-a-__-__ The Portal will open in 3...2...1..."_

"What...the...hell?"

Gypsy Danger's reactor roared to life, which would have made a lot more sense if there had actually been anyone inside it.

Then the voice came back, which somehow sounded exactly like Gypsy Danger's voice except a lot more...sadistic._"Oh my. This is much more pleasant than usual. Acquiring Directive. Directive Acquired. Cogitating with existing directives. New directives identified; Proceeding with Kaiju Elimination and Cake Acquisition."_

Without bothering to remove the feeds, Gypsy Danger ripped itself free from its moorings and slowly walked forwards, staring down the Kaiju with a critical eye. Then, its external speakers engaged. _"Well done. You've entered the Miracle Mile. Here come the test results; you are a horrible person. I'm serious, that's what it says. A horrible person. We weren't even testing for that."_

Danger slammed its fists together _danger_ously_. _"_**Shall we test that theory?"**_


End file.
